LESLIEVILLE, Alta. – Animal handling during transportation should be measured in the same way weaning weights or other performance traits are calculated.
“If you don’t measure, you don’t realize you are sliding back,” said Temple Grandin at a low stress livestock handling workshop held last month in Leslieville, near Rocky Mountain House.
The most important transportation issue is animal fitness. Do not try to sneak a sick animal on the truck, said the Colorado State University animal behaviourist. Sick, emaciated or infirm animals should be euthanized on the farm, she said.
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Infirm animals are more likely to go down during transport and there is no way to humanely handle downer cattle.
Grandin is also concerned with the high level of lameness among dairy cows and their ability to withstand transport.
Lameness varies between dairy herds from eight to 52 percent and producers underestimate the percentage of lame cattle to the point where bad has become normal.
Part of the problem within written transportation guidelines is vague language; words like adequate, sufficient and proper are used to describe conditions. These terms cannot be audited so the same results are achieved among all people checking a transport system.
Grandin has developed a system so people can self-audit truck loading and unloading.
The minimum acceptable scores are:
- Less than two percent should fall when being loaded.
- Less than 25 percent move faster than a trot.
- Less than five percent require use of an electric prod.
- Less than one percent hit a fence when being loaded.
- Less than five percent bawl or moo when in a chute. If they are bawling, they have been hurt.
- Less than five percent hit faces on bars.
People are the most critical elements when transporting livestock and some should never be allowed around animals, said Grandin. Tired loading crews might become impatient or overload trucks, causing bruises and injuries.
Good driving habits will also reduce injuries. The vast majority of truck rollovers happen at night when drivers fall asleep at the wheel. Slamming on the brakes or speeding around corners causes animals to fall down.
